[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 13, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40280-40281]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-13760]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 571
[Docket No. NHTSA-2005-21244]
RIN 2127-AJ59
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Occupant Crash Protection
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA received a letter asking us to extend the comment period
for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the Federal motor
vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) for occupant crash protection. The
agency has proposed to amend FMVSS No. 208, Occupant crash protection,
by establishing a test procedure applicable to vehicles equipped with a
child restraint anchorage system, commonly referred to as a ``LATCH''
system, in a front passenger seating position and that comply with
advanced air bag requirements through the use of a suppression system.
The proposed procedures specify a repeatable, reproducible, and
realistic method of attaching child restraints to the LATCH system for
the suppression test.
To provide interested persons additional time to prepare comments,
we are extending the end of the comment period from July 18, 2005, to
August 17, 2005. This 30-day extension will allow vehicle manufacturers
the appropriate opportunity to review a technical report cited in the
NPRM in support of the agency's proposal, and provide more meaningful
comments.
DATES: You should submit comments early enough to ensure that Docket
Management receives them not later than August 17, 2005.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401,
Washington, DC 20590-001.
Hand Delivery: Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number or Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for this
rulemaking. Note that all comments received will be posted without
change to http://dms.dot.gov, including any personal information
provided. Please see discussion of the Privacy Act below.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time or to Room PL-
401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal Holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For non-legal issues, you may contact
Lou Molino, Office of Crashworthiness Standards, Light Duty Vehicle
Division by phone at (202) 366-1740, and by fax at (202) 493-2739.
For legal issues, you may contact Christopher Calamita of the NHTSA
Office of Chief Counsel by phone at
[[Page 40281]]
(202) 366-2992 and by fax at (202) 366-3820.
You may send mail to both of these officials at the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 400 Seventh St., SW.,
Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 19, 2005, the agency published in the
Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 208, Occupant crash
protection (70 FR 28878). We proposed test procedures applicable to
vehicles that have a child restraint anchorage system, commonly
referred to as a ``LATCH'' system, in a front passenger seating
position and that comply with advanced air bag requirements through the
use of a suppression system. Beginning September 1, 2006, these
vehicles must suppress the air bag in the presence of a child restraint
system that is attached to the vehicle's LATCH system. The procedures
proposed in the NPRM specify a repeatable, reproducible, and realistic
method of attaching child restraints to the LATCH system for the
suppression test.
The proposed procedure was developed by NHTSA to replicate real-
world CRS installations in vehicles by experienced installers,
particularly with respect to the appropriate load vector to be applied
and the amount of load relief when LATCH belts are manually tightened.
The procedure was developed using four installers working with three
vehicles and four CRSs. The agency prepared a technical report
detailing this development. The NPRM was published May 19, 2005, and
open for a 60-day comment period. However, public availability of the
technical report was delayed until after the comment period had
started.
On June 20, 2005, we received a letter from the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers (Alliance) \1\ requesting an extension of the
comment period. The Alliance stated that because of the delay it is not
able to adequately review the technical report and prepare comments by
the close of comment period. Further, the Alliance stated that some of
the illustrations in the technical report were not legible. The
Alliance therefore requested a short extension of the comment period.
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\1\ The Alliance is a trade association of nine automobile
manufacturers, including BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor
Company, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota,
and Volkswagen.
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As stated in the NPRM, the proposed procedure is for child
restraint systems to which vehicles must certify under the suppression
requirements, beginning September 1, 2006. Consequently, we believe the
30-day extension of the comment period will not adversely affect
safety. Further, we believe that providing additional time for review
of the technical report will result in more helpful comments. We note
that the technical report has been resubmitted to the docket with
legible illustrations.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
submissions received into any of our dockets by the name of the
individual submitting the comment or petition (or signing the comment
or petition, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor
union, etc.). You may review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in
the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (volume 65, number 70;
pages 19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.
Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322, 30111, 30115, 30117, and 30166;
delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50.
Issued on July 8, 2005.
Stephen R. Kratzke,
Associate Administrator for Rulemaking.
[FR Doc. 05-13760 Filed 7-12-05; 8:45 am]
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